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SALT LAKE CITY — You'll soon be able to fly nonstop from Salt Lake City International Airport to one of Germany's largest cities.
Lufthansa Group on Thursday announced a handful of new international flights it'll add next year, including three nonstop flights per week between Salt Lake City and Frankfurt, Germany. The service will be handled by the low-cost leisure travel airline Eurowings beginning in May 2022.
The group's announcement was a big step forward for the future of the airport after its new terminals opened last year. Salt Lake City had nonstop flights to London, Paris and Amsterdam, as well as flights to the Canadian cities of Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver, but all of those were halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Delta plans to resume flights to Amsterdam beginning next week as nonstop international travel options slowly return. That and flights to the Mexican cities of Cancun, Guadalajara, Los Cabos, Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta are listed as the nonstop international flights from Salt Lake City available as of June this year, according to public airport documents.
There are more options on the way not just as post-pandemic life begins to emerge but also from the airport upgrades. Salt Lake City Airport Director Bill Wyatt told KSL NewsRadio Thursday that the old airport made it impossible to expand new airline carriers that were already there but that barrier is now lifted with the airport upgrades.
"Now we have these beautiful new international gates and arrival facility, and I think this is just the beginning," he said.
Wyatt added that there is hope to add flights to cities in Asia and Latin America in the near future, as well.
Lufthansa Group also announced new Eurowings flights from Munich to Las Vegas beginning in 2022 as a part of new flights revealed on Thursday.
The company's announcement comes as airline interest is beginning to heat up again after the travel was decimated by the economic impacts of COVID-19.
U.S. Travel's April 29 report estimated that American travelers spent nearly $70 billion in travel costs during March 2021, which was a significant increase from previous months but still down from March 2019 levels. It also found that 72% of American travelers at that point planned a summer getaway, compared to 37% at the same time last year.
Contributing: Dan Bammes, KSL NewsRadio
